SUMMARY: Locking tape drive?

From: Ackerson, Greg (ackerson_ga@nns.com)
Date: Mon May 11 1998 - 13:32:55 CDT


Thanks again to all respondents. Far and away, the consensus was "Lock the
whole system in a room to which only you (and trusted associates) have
access." or "Use a locked enclosure."

It was mentioned that even if you did software-disable the eject switch, it
would [AFAIK] get reenabled when you power-cycled the drive.

I think it's worth mentioning that the building is restricted to authorized
guests and employees with pictured ID badges, and the room in which
confidential processing occurs has a 5-button cipher-lock and a strict
personal recognizance policy in effect. BUT, there are over 30 people with
access and if any one of them "got disgruntled", s/he could make some lives
miserable in a terrific hurry.

=> We have DoD confidential info on those tapes; if one was stolen, one or
more
=> employees would probably face federal prosecution for negligence. :(

Mark Bergman wondered:
> How do other spooks^H^H^H^H^H^Hfederal departments handle the same
> situation?

There's one other system w/tape drive; they do the same thing we do. Just
leave the tape in it.

Line Printer System pointed out:
>The tapes should be locked in a GSA rated safe or vault while not in
use!!!

I bet management would be quicker to spring for an enclosure than to pay
someone to babysit the backups in the middle of the night... :) (time and a
half, maybe?) We do have a safe, btw; we just keep CDs in it. ("Put that
Grateful Dead in there. It's a collector's item!")

Thanks,
Amjad Zamil
Brian Wightman
Chi-Man Wu
Craig Glover
David Harte
george@esa.nascom.nasa.gov
gibian@stars1.hanscom.af.mil
Jochen Bern
Line Printer System
marcs@tdd.hbo.nec.com
Patrick Patterson
Mark
Mark Bergman
Sean Ward
steve@peachy.com
Tom Vayda
...and any others en route!

P.S. Just kidding, not *those* kind of CDs...

P.P.S. It's Pink Floyd or nothing.



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